Researching United States
Supreme Court Justices
Law 590-202 Senior Seminar
(Supreme Court Decisions)
June 29, 2006
James E. Duggan
Why is it important?
Knowing a justice’s background may give
you insight into how the justice thinks…
 If you know what arguments a justice
responds to, you can prepare briefs and oral
arguments in an influential way.
 Unlike juries, you cannot usually pick a
court bench. But, you should think how the
court views all aspects of your case as you
would a jury.

Potential Predictors of Judicial
Decisions
How have justices ruled in the past? What
alliances have justices formed?
 How have justices responded to arguments?
 What questions have justices asked in oral
arguments?
 How have justices responded to briefs?
 What have justices said in speeches? Other
writings? Interviews?

Potential Predictors of Judicial
Decisions
Biographical Information
 Nomination/Confirmation Battles
 What has been written about the justice
 Political Science Studies/Supreme Court
Forecasting Project
 Personal Connections/Anecdotal
Information/Blogs

Getting Started: Researching the
Supreme Court
Martin & Goehlert, How to Research the
Supreme Court (CQ, 1992)
 Stern, Gressman, Shapiro & Geller:
Supreme Court Practice, 8th ed. (CQ, 2002)
 Epstein, Segal, Spaeth & Walker, The
Supreme Court Compendium: Data,
Decisions & Development, 2nd. Ed (CQ:
1996)

Getting Started: Researching the
Supreme Court
Paddock, Facts about the Supreme Court of
the United States (H.W. Wilson & Co.,
1996)
 Bader & Mersky, The First One Hundred
Eight Justices (W.S. Hein & Co., 2004)

Getting Started: Researching the
Supreme Court
Lambert, U.S. Supreme Court ResearchSelect Internet Sites (on LLRX)
 Official U.S. Supreme Court Website

How Have Justices Ruled in the
Past?

Search for their opinions on LexisNexis &
Westlaw
– LexisNexis: Use Segment Search: Opinionby,
Writtenby, Dissentby, Concurby
– Westlaw: Use Field Search: JU (judge), CON
(Concurring), DIS (dissenting)
– Remember to search for opinions prior to
service on Supreme Court; may also want to
search for cases they argued as attorneys
What Alliances Have Justices
Formed?
LexisNexis and Westlaw Search: Look at
who joins the justice in the opinion
(concurrence, dissent, etc.)
 Look at commentary about Court in
newspapers, legal journals, etc.
 See postings on SCOTUSblog (linked from
SIU Law Library webpage)

Justices: Oral Arguments &
Responses

Look at texts of oral arguments:
– http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
– Official transcript proceedings before the
Supreme Court of the United States [SIU
microform]
– May it please the court [sound recording] :
the most significant oral arguments made
before the Supreme Court since 1955

OYEZ-U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia
Briefs
LexisNexis & Westlaw
 http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
 http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/
home.html
 Landmark briefs and arguments of the
Supreme Court of the United States (SIU)
 U. S. Supreme Court records and briefs
[microform]

Speeches, Writings, Interviews

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Check Index to Legal Periodicals & WilsonWeb
Checks News files on both LexisNexis & Westlaw
See Partin’s Supreme Court Research Guide &
Bibliography
Book Example: Sandra Day O’Connor, The
Majesty of the Law (Random House, 2003)
Historically, locate papers collections (generally at
major universities)
Library of Congress Resources (ex: Alito)
Biographical Information
Friedman and Israel, The Justices of the
United States Supreme Court: Their Lives
and Major Opinions (Vol. V, Chelsea
House, 1995)
 The American Bench: Judges of the Nation
 Almanac of the Federal Judiciary
 Be careful, though…

Biography Examples
Andrew Peyton Thomas, Clarence Thomas:
a Biography (Encounter Books, 2001)
 Nancy Maveety, Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor: Strategist on the Supreme Court
(Rowan & Littlefield, 1996)
 Kevin A. Ring, ed., Scalia Dissents :
Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest,
Most Outspoken Justice (Regnery, 2004)

Nomination/Confirmation Battles

Lots of information surfaces at a
confirmation hearing:
– Newspaper/Media files (LexisNexis/Westlaw)
– Mersky & Jacobstein, The Supreme Court of
the United States : hearings and reports on
successful and unsuccessful nominations of
Supreme Court Justices by the Senate
Judiciary Committee, 1916-1993 (W.S. Hein
& Co, 1993-1995).
Nomination/Confirmation Battles
– A Field Guide to the Alito Confirmation Hearings
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http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1136541915440
Gearing Up for the Alito Confirmation Hearings:
Documents Fuel the Debate
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/
2006/01/gearing_up_for__1.html
Alito Coverage from the Law Professor Blogs
Network
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/
2006/01/alito_coverage_.html
Nomination/Confirmation Battles
– Searchable Version of John Roberts Confirmation
Hearings and Court Opinions
– http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/JohnRoberts/confirmat
ion_hearing.asp
– Background Information for Senate Confirmation of
John Roberts
– http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2
005/09/background_info.html
– Parsing John Roberts
– http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2
005/08/parsing_john_ro.html
About the Justice: Books,
Articles, etc.

Use various indexes/databases to search for
materials:
–
–
–
–
OCLC First Search
Library Catalogs
Periodical Indexes (ILP, LegalTrac, WilsonWeb, etc.)
Silverburg, Index to Law School Theses &
Dissertations (W.S. Hein & Co., 1995)
– Comprehensive Dissertation Index (Law & Political
Science; Social Sciences and Humanities)
About the Justice: Books,
Articles, etc. Examples
Epstein & Knight, The Choices Justice
Make (CQ Press, 1998)
 Johnson, Oral Arguments and Decision
Making on the United States Supreme Court
(SUNY Press, 2004)
 Cooper & Ball, The United States Supreme
Court: From the Inside Out (Prentice Hall,
1996)

About the Justice: Books,
Articles, etc. Examples
Perry, “The Supremes”: Essays on the
Current Justices of the Supreme Court of
the United States (Peter Lang, 1999)
 Clayton & Gillman, Supreme Court
Decision Making: New Institutionalist
Approaches (University of Chicago Press,
1999)

About the Justice: Books,
Articles, etc. Examples
Segal & Spaeth, The Supreme Court and the
Attitudinal Model Revisited (Cambridge
University Press, 2002)
 Savage, Turning Right: The Making of the
Rehnquist Supreme Court (John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 1992).

Political Science
Studies/Forecasting Models

See Morris Library’s Social Science Indexes
for political science journal articles, etc.
Forecasting Models
Personal Connections/Anecdotal
Information/Blogs

Who do you know?
– Clerks/other Employees
– Attorneys who have argued before the Supreme
Court

Who can you hire?
– Georgetown’s Supreme Court Institute
Blogs
The Rutherford Institute Court Watch
 About U.S. Politics: Supreme Court
 Judicial Confirmation Network
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